March 19, 2004

Box Score

Clearwater, FL - Seniors Brian Morley (Tappan, NY/Don Bosco Prep) and Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) each went 2-for-3 to lead the No. 6 Johns Hopkins baseball team to a 9-3 win over Defiance in a seven-inning game Thursday night.

Morley finished with a single, double and an RBI while Casale had two singles and two runs batted in for Hopkins, which improved to 10-0 on the season. The Blue Jays' start is the best since the 1998 team opened the season with 16 wins.

The Yellow Jackets struck first with a run in the bottom of the second, but Hopkins exploded for six runs in the top of the fourth. Morley led off the inning with a double, and junior Eric Nigro (Randolph, NJ/Taft Prep) followed by getting hit by a pitch. Freshman Rob Sanzillo (Katonah, NY/Somers) then singled to score Morley, and Casale singled to plate Nigro. After a bunt single by senior Rob Morrison (Malibu, CA/Loyola) loaded the bases, junior Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh) stroked a three-run triple to clear the bases. Senior Carl Ippolito (Ewing, NJ/Pennington School) capped the inning by hitting a sacrifice fly to score Winterling.

Nigro walked to start the fifth, and advanced to second when Sanzillo reached on an error by the Defiance shortstop. After Casale walked to load the bases, Morrison hit a sacrifice fly to give the Blue Jays a 7-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pull within 7-3, but Hopkins went back up six by scoring two in the seventh.

Morley began the rally by getting hit by a pitch and stealing second. Nigro followed with a walk, and both runners advanced on a passed ball. Casale then hit a sacrifice fly to score Morley, and Nigro came home on a double by Morrison.

Hopkins sophomore Jim Flannery (Rocky River, OH/St. Edward) pitched the first five innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out three to pick up his first win of the season. Senior Russ Berger (Owings Mills, MD/Owings Mills) allowed an unearned run in the final two innings to record the save.

The Blue Jays face Edgewood Friday at Seminole High School in a doubleheader beginning at 12 noon.

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